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If I remember correctly (it was 2017) the clinician told me immediately he would approve me and the official results were in my file within a week (this was before the hospital system I used implemented MyChart)

Is anyone else always hungry? All I want to do is eat. This just started a few weeks ago. I spoke to my surgeon about this. I also feel like I can eat a lot more than I should be able to. I don’t understand. I’m not overeating. It’s not slider foods but I feel like it’s taking more and more to feel full. I’m not drinking with my meals. I’m just so confused because this has been so hard. I’m almost 7 months post op.

Does anyone have any personal experience using any egg-white powders for protein, specifically in cooking or adding to other foods in lieu of other protein powders? I'm looking at NOW's egg white powder and a couple of Canadian brands (Muskoka Mornings & Canadian Protein), but if you've successfully tried another brand I'm all ears. Do you find the eggy taste strong or mild when you use it mixed in other items? How hard is it to dissolve? What did you use it in? I've read mixed reviews on both aspects across a few different brands now -- some people saying it takes a lot of 'elbow grease' to dissolve and still has a strong eggy texture, others saying they barely notice it. Specifically, I'm having trouble getting enough protein at breakfast time. Due to my meds schedule, I can't have dairy/calcium until 10/10:30, but I eat breakfast around 7am. Usually it's a high protein cereal and almond milk, or lately oatmeal made with almond milk or water -- but the oatmeal is usually 6g of protein or lower, and the cereal nets out to about 8. I've tried adding my usual protein powders but -- of course -- most the ones I can stand are whey-based. Not to mention, the texture when added to my oatmeal is just ugh. (I've got so many texture issues lately, ugh). Basically I'm looking for another option I can add to oatmeal (sweet or savoury). ((I've tried peanut butter powder these past two days and it's good -- just not something I can handle every day. I'm experimenting later this week with some other seeds & nuts, but most of them are too high fat for me as the first meal of the day and just don't offer enough protein. I've also gotten some chickpeas, I've heard that mashing some up and mixing it into the oatmeal before cooking will work as it has a bland enough flavour to not stand out and will come out roughly the same as oatmeal. That's tomorrow's experiment XD)) Any opinions are greatly welcomed!!

Congrats on the surgery, and your first steps towards a healthier you! It looks like I'm a day late, but echoing what others are saying, the first day is the roughest, by far, but it eases up quickly throughout the week. Walk and do arm exercises (lifting over your head, rotating, just any movement while walking), and this will help dissipate the gas pressure you're probably experiencing right now. Try to do a little every hour, even if its just walking down the hallway and back a couple times. If your doctor allows it, take Gas-X to also help with the gas pressure. It kept feeling like it was getting stuck in my left should/chest area, and was really uncomfortable. That was my biggest complaint about the process the first couple weeks, but the walking and gas-x would buy me a couple hours of relief. Also, for the protein shakes during your liquid phase, get the Fairlife brand 30g or 42g shakes if you can find them. They taste more like chocolate milk and don't have that chemical taste that a lot of other protein shakes have (Premier protein and muscle milk). Check Sams Club and Costco for those.

Hey all! I know we all may have different surgeon guidelines and of course a nutritionist is the expert. Having said that- I’m looking for comparison of your numbers vs mine on your daily intake at 4 months out. I’ve been stalled nearly 3 weeks. Just curious to see what others tracking looks like at this time period post operatively. Thanks!!

If you can swing it, do it. I’m single, no kids, and I was just bored out of my mind haha so I was more than ready to go back. Only thing is your side hurts when you laugh or cough for a few weeks. But if you hold it it helps. I promise it goes away! lol

If I remember correctly (it was 2017) the clinician told me immediately he would approve me and the official results were in my file within a week (this was before the hospital system I used implemented MyChart)

*raises hand* im a sleeve. while i can't really comment if/how much my stomach "grew" or stretched, as ive never actually SEEN any before and after pics of it, i can say that while i can't eat IN ONE SITTING the vast amounts i could pack in BEFORE surgery, i can definitely eat more now IN ONE SITTING than i could IMMEDIATELY AFTER surgery (im 5+ years out now) for example: (note im talking like a regular, delivery type pizza below, NOT neapolitan/thin style nor deep dish nor pan pizzas, etc): pre-sleeve: 5-6 slices of pizza 2 months post: no pizza lol 3-5 months post: 3-4 bites of pizza 1 yr post to now: 1 regular pizza slice (like a 4x6 inch triangle) . i have been known to eat up to 2 in one sitting, but that's pushing it for me and not really comfortable. however, i could definitely eat an entire regular pizza over the course of a day. or a neapolitan style one in much less time if i really wanted to. but i dont want to, so yeah. background: 5'2" female: 235 lbs two weeks before surgery. 127 lbs goal at 7 months post. 115 lbs at one year post. 117 lbs this morning (am 5 years, 7 months out)

Hahahaha!! I eat a little bit of dark chocolate a few times a week for my mental health. I save it until after dinner and only have a bite or two, so it takes forever to finish a bar or bag of chocolate chips. But man, saving those carbs for that dark chocolate is worth it! 😂 I recently discovered freeze dried strawberries. OMG *swoon* I can't eat any raw fruit yet, it sends me right to the bathroom. But apparently freeze dried is fine and eating 1/4 cup of freeze dried strawberries easily fits into my macros. They are delicious crumbled on top of greek yogurt too! But they have to be freeze dried, the regular dried variety has sugar added and is waaay higher in carbs.

Hey, so I'm on a hunt for a good collagen supplement that won't break the bank? Right now I'm using Spring Valley Collagen and Biotin. I'd say I've been using it for two weeks so far. I feel like it's probably helping my skin, but I'm not noticing anything really with my hair which is what I want it for and because my team recommended it. Anybody using collagen?

Thanks all. I am still losing weight each week so it wouldn't be for any time soon, I was just wondering about it for an extra energy boost at a later date when I am sure I might reach a plateau. I had seen it really heavily plugged on a bariatric blog so was wondering about it.

If i remember correctly, i took my multi and one of my calciums in the morning with a tbsp of greek yogurt (if i didn't i'd get nauseous because i don't eat in the mornings...never did, even pre-surgery, and still don't). then 2 more calciums with Vit Ds later in the day/evening. i only had to take iron for 1 week, and during that time i didn't take the calcium cuz they were sooooo humongous and i didn't yet learn the greek yogurt trick. i remember sometime around month 2 post op i started taking those chewable calciums (chocolate flavoured, yum!). did this for a couple months then went back to the ginormous horse tablets. now i am in no way endorsing the following (without talking to your doc first), but full disclosure, i stopped taking any/all vitamins/supplements around the 1.5 year mark. my doc/team knew this and had no concerns because my labs always came back satisfactorily....and continued to do so until my last followup with my surgeon at the 5 year mark last fall. going forward i suppose this will need to be monitored at my annuals with my primary care doc. oh, i should mention i'm also a sleeve....

okay! I was definitely going to take 2weeks off, however I was kinda thinking of extending for 4 weeks. I am in school, work full time and have 3 kids. So I feel like I may need to get a handle on everything along with the new way of eating and how tired I may be?

At 5 weeks post op I was just having 3 teeny tiny meals and lots of fluids. When you say you *want* a snack in between meals do you mean that you fancy something in particular (head hunger) or that you can't distract yourself from proper hunger with fluids or random activities, or that even if you do that you still feel proper hunger? 5 weeks would be super early for proper hunger to return! In any case, and to answer your original question - I stuck rigidly to the 30m before *and* after rule for about 18 months. I found after that that I could drink right up to the point of eating so I relaxed that part. However I still wait for more than an hour after eating before I drink fluids. It seems to prolong my satiety. Best of luck - I hope you can find your way through.

How long after surgery did anyone wear their compression device? Mine is the cirul8 device that hugs your legs every so often. I think I wore mine about 2-2.5 weeks. I am up and moving but have since started sitting more so I’m not sure if I should wear them again. I’m one month PO. Cheers :)

Thank you, I completely agree. Common practice usually would be to call the patient on the waitlist at the top (I have been told you are able to refuse a date to be offered another just one time, in the event you have a situation you can't miss in your personal life, for example), and offer the date with 2-4 weeks notice of surgery to begin the liver reduction diet. I agree though, it doesn't take a genius to work out that this way of contacting people is simply ridiculous. What if one is driving again, or it's an inappropriate time to answer a call? I have since found the complaints email for the health service trust, and have sent one off to explain the situation. I would be shocked if this was their policy, honestly, but I'll wait and see I suppose.

I am currently almost 6 months post op for my original procedure and am writing this from my hospital bed. I am unable to tolerate oral intake of food or fluids of any kind and am being fed via a nasojejunal tube (NJT) and TPN via a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) My surgeon along with many others that have consulted on my case are at a complete loss for what is going on and why I can't tolerate anything. I'm reaching out to fellow people who have undergone bariatric surgery in the hopes of finding someone else with a similar experience to maybe get some opinions/answers. In order to do this I will start from the beginning and tell you all my entire story. I know it's long but I am desperate so please bear with me and read to the end. I will try to explain everything but also be as brief as possible to keep it as short as possible. I had surgery at the end of November 2023. It was a One Anastamosis Gastric Bypass or "mini" bypass. The surgery was routine and there were no issues whatsoever. I couldn't tolerate fluids and my intake was too poor to be released from hospital and progressed to vomiting every time I drank anything. Was diagnosed with a stricture and it was dilated and I finally started progressing. I was discharged from hospital finally almost 2 weeks post op (booked in for further dilatations at regular intervals to slowly stretch the stricture) and was home for less than 24hrs before it began again and my surgeon readmitted me and I underwent another dilatation. Upon getting back to my room I started violently vomiting and no amount of antiemetics would settle it. Emergency CT scan confirmed the stricture was perforated and my stomach contents were leaking into my abdominal cavity. I developed sepsis and had a nasogastric tube inserted for drainage. I underwent IV antibiotics and was later rushed to surgery to repair it, however due to the damage from the infection, it required a conversion to a Roux EN Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) and I needed my abdomen washed out and other infected tissue removed. It took about 5 hrs. I spent a further month in hospital recovering, initially on TPN to supplement my oral intake but was wraned off as my tolerance improved and was finally discharged. At this point in time I had progressed to a pureed diet. I was by no means meeting my requirements but the benefits of being home vs hospital given everything outweighed the negatives and my surgeon planned on seeing me weekly as well as my dietician. Now here is where is starts to get weird and my real troubles began. Just over a week later I woke up one morning and had a sip of water (with a few drops of cordial to break the surface tension) however as soon as it went down I experienced a wave of nausea. It was different from before, I can't really explain the difference but I just ignored it believing it would go away (Denial as I just wanted to get on with my life and get back to work and due to the conversion surgery, my surgeon had created an extra large opening to account for my body closing the join so that it would end up a normal size.) I started experimenting with foods and fluids, different textures, consistencies, temperatures, etc. I tried absolutely everything I could think of. About a week or so later and my intake was getting progressively worse and I was once again admitted and went straight for an endoscopy (My 3rd since 1st surgery) to dilate the suspected stricture but there wasn't one. I then underwent a barrage of tests and every general and GI surgeon/specialist in my town came and consulted on my case, as well as my surgeon consulting doctors from all over. A NGT was eventually inserted and enteral nutrition (EN) started but was not tolerated and the tube was advanced into my intestines to be a NJT, which was then tolerated but the focus was on trying to get my oral intake to be adequate. I spent weeks in hospital trying different medications, getting tests and ruling out different conditions. I was discharged on EN with the NJT on 16 hour feeds at a rate of 50ml/hr which was not enough to meet my nutrition requirements but was the Max rate I could tolerate and the belief at this stage was that the nausea would go away and I'd be able to eat again. On the 8th of May I was admitted for a gastronomy tube insertion into my remnant stomach via laparoscopy as it was finally decided that this problem was not going away and by this stage I had lost 38kg (84lbs) and was severely malnourished, despite increasing my feed rate to 60ml/hr (still not enough to meet nutritional requirements) The purpose of the gastronomy tube was not only to have a more discreet way of feeding and for comfort and whatnot but because the tube is in my remnant stomach, I should be able to tolerate a much higher rate to actually meet my nutritional requirements and spend less time attached to the feeding pump. Feeds were commenced at 20ml/hr the next day but I developed severe pain and discovered feed had soaked the dressing around the tube. I was yet again rushed into surgery as the tube was leaking. Another NJT was inserted along with a PICC line and both EN and TPN were started to maximise my nutritional status while we wait for my body to heal around the tube in order for that leak to stop happening again. I've been on IV antibiotics and whatnot since as well. I developed a fluid collection in my abdomen and needed a percutaneous drainage which failed as the fluid was too thick to aspirate and a minor infection at the insertion site and it was believed that there was a fistula however luckily that was not the case. However yesterday I had a fluroscopy in which contrasted was put into the tube to see what happens and whether it's now working correctly and that caused me to violently retch as my body tried to expel the fluid from my stomach but as its not connected to my oesophagus anymore, it was unable to do so. This has now lead me to start worrying about whether whatever issue is preventing me from tolerating anything going into my pouch is affecting my remnant stomach too. I'm now facing the prospect of permanent EN and TPN for the rest of my life and I'm not even 30. So if you or anyone you know has any ideas or similar experiences or literally anything, please let me know. Even if it's just a chat because I feel so incredibly alone in this. To anyone that made it this far, I appreciate you taking the time to read this and thank you in advance for any responses. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have as well.

I completely understand, I was the same way until about a month ago (I'm at 6 months now) and all my labs came back great too (other than my white blood cells/lymphocytes being elevated)! I still struggle a few days a week; really tired, ache in general plus I'm weaker, like I have difficulty opening things that used to be easy, lifting things I used to be able to lift with no problems, is a problem now. Some people just bounce back slower I was told by my dietician and doctor who didn't seem overly concerned. My B12 was great as well... I wasn't getting as much water as I should, still don't but I'm trying. How is your water intake? Other than my water consumption everything was right as it should be, so yeah I feel you. Let us know how you're doing and if you figure it out! I never have..

I have yet to get a date. I was trying for the Duodenal switch. Insurance denied, it was expected since that was the only bariatric surgery they don't cover, but it was worth a try. Resubmitted for Rouen-Y gastric bypass. Should hear back in a week or so. Hopefully I can get a surgery date in February.

I look for any excuse to get some extra walking in -- like @ms.sss said, takes the stairs when it's an option, park further away. I like to find different parks and trails to visit on weekends for longer walks -- even mall-walking can be entertaining if you switch it up. Most of the community centres in my city have drop-in classes in a heated pool -- some for therapy, others for strengthening or low impact cardio, etc. It's a nice way to get a taste of a few options before paying any full-on membership dues. Maybe check around your local area for something like that -- or a gym that offers a one month trial, etc. (Honestly, everytime I've bought a membership to a gym, I'm awesomely committed for a few weeks and then never go back -- so I stay away from gyms myself) I also bought a foldable stationary bike for at home (like $130 on amazon) for days when the weather is too wet / hot / etc for me to enjoy a good walk. (When I was younger, I loved this exercise series called Power90. It's super out-dated now in terms of style (etc) but I found it on youtube recently and will probably give it a try again once I'm a little further into my recovery. Short 30-45 minute workout videos, I think the only thing you needed to buy was either a resistance band or light handweights, and a yoga mat if needed. They have updated versions throughout the years with more flash and pizazz but I'm a fan of simplicity.)

I'm glad it helped!! Oh yes, I forgot to mention that, moving to soft foods will help some, purees just don't have as much solidity to them. There is a huge difference between a 1/4 cup of pureed food vs 1/4 of a solid protein, even if it is a soft protein... At 8 weeks I was cleared for most foods and I think that is part of the reason why my hunger started to ease off around then. If your PPI is omeprazole it is possible it isn't working as well as you need it to, sometimes people need something like Pantoprazole or Dexilant, so if that gnawing hunger at night continues you may want to ask your doctor about it at your next appointment! ❤️

Hi everyone! This is my first post, so please be kind 😅 I'm currently 18 years old and my surgery date is set for March 26th, 2024. Only two more weeks to go! Both of my parents have had weight loss surgery, and the main difference between the program they went through and the one I'm going through at my children's hospital is how long it took. I had to complete a six-month program which started in July, plus other miscellaneous appointments. I'm just curious if anyone here had their surgery in their teenage years or as an early adult. How was adjusting to the new diet while also being in school? Is loose skin more or less common in younger patients? Please comment if you have any answers, tips, or words of encouragement. I look forward to hearing from the people! Lol

Hi everyone. I was a cash pay in Vegas for gastric sleeve. They haven’t really followed up and I keep having to ask them for more info. They seem really relaxed about everything (outpatient surgery). I asked when I can exercise and he said I can begin anything I want now and I am only three weeks out. I’m just wondering if anyone else has been told that? I see 6-8 weeks most places.

I just had surgery right after new year's and I haven't told any of my family yet. I typically see them about once a month and call/text at least 3+ times a week. I'm not sure if it's because I wore pullovers and pants, but they haven't noticed anything different. On the other hand, my boyfriend knows I had surgery, sees me everyday, and tells me how much/what changed all the time. His co-workers also know (I see them a few times a yr) and they said they could hardly recognize me. I don't know what to make of this... I'm about 2 months post op and down about 45lbs. Personally I can see a noticeable difference from my waist down, but I think other than that I look about the same. Although shirts are fitting me a bit different. So I was wondering, who was the first to notice any changes after your surgery and who was the last?

So, I will be allowed water, decaf tea or coffee, sugar free flavoring, sugar free jello and popsicles, broth, skim or 1% milk, yogurt without any pieces in it, unsweetened apple sauce, sugar free pudding, cream of tomato soup, and of course protein supplements. I have to do this for 2 weeks. But I would call your office to make sure what they want you to do because they're all different.